Background Art Recently, with the improvement of living standards, interest in a delightful life environment has increased gradually. Accordingly, landscape works such as construction of neighborhood parks in cities or green zones in housing developments are actively performed. Recently, not only landscape works for public institutions such as parks but also landscape works for spare spaces such as verandas of apartments or gardens of rural houses performed directly by ordinary people have gradually increased. In such landscape works, many landscape structures such as a flowerbed are constructed. Various materials are used for construction of such landscape structures. Particularly, wood is mainly used due to ease of processing, environment-friendly properties and a graceful appearance. As for landscape structures made of wood, they are installed by directly processing wood in fields of construction works for the landscape structures, or by assembling standardized modules such as blocks manufactured in advance in factories in the fields of construction. Particularly, the latter method in which modular products are manufactured in advance in factories and then merely assembled in the fields of construction has been widely used in that even ordinary people can easily install landscape structures and a term required for a landscape work is remarkably reduced. Further, in a case where landscape structures are constructed of wood, processed timber or modular products are conventionally joined by mainly using nails. However, since works for

joining mutually wooded products with nails as described above require great skill, it is not easy for ordinary peoples to construct landscape structures with wooded products.

Moreover, works for joining products such as blocks, which have been modularized for ease and rapidity of works, with nails reduce advantages obtained due to modularization.

That is, in order to enable ordinary peoples to easily construct landscape structures such as flowerbeds and reduce time for constructing the structures, there are needs for development of modular products as well as joining means suitable for mutually joining the modularized wooden products.

Disclosure of Invention The present invention is conceived to satisfy the above needs. An object of the present invention is to provide a pin, a wedge and a pin having an integrally formed wedge for joining blocks, wherein a press-fitting portion is simply press-fitted into a pin hole of one of adjacent two blocks having pin holes and a wedge receiving portion inserted into the pin hole of the other block is ruptured by a wedge and then simply fixed in the pin hole, thereby easily joining the two blocks.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a pin for joining blocks and a pin having an integrally formed wedge for joining blocks, wherein a catching step is formed between a press-fitting portion and a wedge receiving portion to be caught by an entrance of a pin hole such that the press-fitting portion is no longer inserted into the pin hole when the press-fitting portion is press-fitted by a certain length, and receives force since an end of a punch for striking the press-fitting portion during the press-fitting process is caught by the catching step, thereby simplifying the press-fitting process and preventing damage due to striking during the press-fitting process.

A further object of the invention is to provide a pin for joining blocks and a pin having an integrally formed wedge for joining blocks, wherein engaging grooves are consecutively arranged on an outer peripheral surface of a press-fitting portion of the pin to relatively decrease friction in a direction in which the pin is press-fitted into a pin hole of a block and to relatively increase friction in a direction in which the pin is drawn from the pin hole of the block, thereby allowing the pin to be easily press-fitted into the pin hole but

preventing the pin from being extracted from the pin hole.

In addition, a still further object of the present invention is to provide a pin for joining blocks and a pin having an integrally formed wedge for joining blocks, wherein engaging grooves are consecutively arranged on an outer peripheral surface of a wedge receiving portion of the pin, thereby preventing the pin from being easily drawn from the pin hole when the wedge receiving portion is ruptured and fixed in the pin hole.

Furthermore, a still further object of the present invention is to provide a pin, a wedge and a pin having an integrally formed wedge for joining blocks, wherein the wedge for joining the blocks is connected integrally so as to simultaneously perform the process of press-fitting a press-fitting portion of the pin into a pin hole and the process of inserting the connected wedge into a wedge receiving portion of another pin for joining blocks.

A pin for joining blocks according to the present invention for achieving the objects is cylindrical and comprises a taper portion formed at one end portion of the pin; a press-fitting portion extending with a constant diameter by a predetermined length from the taper portion ; and a wedge receiving portion which has a diameter smaller than that of the press-fitting portion, is formed with a plurality of rupturing grooves having a constant depth in an axial direction from the other end of the pin on an outer peripheral surface thereof, and is formed with a wedge receiving hole having a predetermined depth in the axial direction from the other end.

The press-fitting portion is a portion that is press-fitted and fixed in the pin hole having a diameter smaller than that of the press-fitting portion. The wedge receiving portion is a portion which is inserted into the pin hole with a diameter larger than that of the wedge receiving portion without resistance and then ruptured along the rupturing grooves to be fixed in the pin hole. Therefore, the press-fitting portion is fixed to one block and the wedge receiving portion is fixed to another block adjacent the above block so that the two blocks can be joined together. Meanwhile, the taper portion is formed such that the minimum diameter of an end thereof is smaller than that of the pin hole so that the taper portion can easily align the press-fitting portion with the pin hole.

Further, the pin may further comprise a catching step portion which has a diameter larger than that of the press-fitting portion and is formed to protrude between the press-

fitting portion and the wedge receiving portion.

When the press-fitting portion is completely inserted into the pin hole, the catching step portion is caught by an entrance of the pin hole so as to prevent the pin from. being press-fitted any more. Further, the catching step portion is a portion by which an end of a punch to be inserted around the wedge receiving portion is caught. When one end of the punch received around the wedge receiving portion and protruding over the wedge receiving portion is struck, the striking force is transmitted to the catching step portion so that the press-fitting portion can be press-fitted into the pin hole. Therefore, the press- fitting portion can be struck by the punch in order to press-fit the press-fitting portion into the pin hole without striking directly the wedge receiving portion that is relatively weak on impact due to the rupturing grooves.

In the pin of the present invention, the press-fitting portion may have a plurality of first engaging grooves which are consecutively formed on an outer peripheral surface thereof and each of which comprises a first inclined surface that is formed on a side toward the wedge receiving portion and inclined upward toward the wedge receiving portion and a second inclined surface that is formed on a side toward the taper portion and inclined upward toward the wedge receiving portion and has a slope steeper than that of the first inclined surface. A first inclined surface of one of the first engaging grooves may meet with a second inclined surface of an adjacent one of the first engaging grooves to form an edge.

The first engaging grooves formed an outer peripheral surface of the press-fitting portion constructed as above decrease relatively friction exerted in a direction in which the press-fitting portion is press-fitted into the pin hole and increase relatively friction exerted in a direction in which the press-fitting portion is drawn from the pin hole. Therefore, the press-fitting portion is relatively easily press-fitted into the pin hole but is not easily drawn from the pin hole.

In the pin of the present invention, the wedge receiving portion may have a plurality of second engaging grooves which are consecutively formed on an outer peripheral surface thereof and each of which comprises a third inclined surface that is formed on a side toward the press-fitting portion and inclined upward toward the press-

fitting portion and a fourth inclined surface that is formed on a side toward a distal end of the wedge receiving portion and inclined upward toward the press-fitting portion and has a slope steeper than that of the third inclined surface. A third inclined surface of one of the second engaging grooves may meet with a fourth inclined surface of an adjacent one of the second engaging grooves to form an edge.

The second engaging grooves formed on an outer peripheral surface of the wedge receiving portion constructed as above prevent the wedge receiving portion from being easily drawn from the pin hole in a state where the wedge receiving portion is ruptured and fixed in the pin hole.

In the pin of the present invention, a wedge coupling hole with a predetermined depth may be formed at the end of the taper portion in the axial direction.

The wedge receiving hole is a portion into which the coupling protrusion portion of the wedge to be described below is inserted. Therefore, the wedge can be detachably attached to the pin for joining the blocks.

A wedge for joining blocks according to the present invention for achieving the objects comprises a wedge portion formed to take the shape of a truncated cone having a maximum diameter larger than a diameter of a wedge receiving hole of the aforementioned pin and a minimum diameter smaller than the diameter of the wedge receiving hole.

When the wedge portion constructed as above is inserted into the wedge receiving hole of the pin and further moved, the wedge portion applies force to the wedge receiving hole in a radial direction so that the wedge receiving portion is ruptured along the ruptured grooves.

In the wedge of the present invention, a plurality of cut-away grooves may be longitudinally formed on an outer peripheral surface of the wedge portion.

With the above structure, it is possible to save the amount of materials corresponding to the volume of the rupturing grooves upon manufacture of the wedge for joining the blocks.

A wedge for joining blocks according to the present invention comprises a wedge portion formed to take the shape of a truncated cone having a maximum diameter larger than a diameter of a wedge receiving hole of the aforementioned pin and smaller than a

diameter of a press-fitting portion of the pin and a minimum diameter smaller than the diameter of the wedge receiving hole of the pin; and a coupling protrusion portion axially extending from an end of the wedge portion having the maximum diameter so that it can be inserted into the wedge receiving hole of the pin.

In the wedge for joining the blocks constructed as above, the wedge portion of the wedge is inserted into the wedge receiving hole of the pin to rupture the wedge receiving portion and the coupling protrusion portion thereof is inserted into the wedge receiving hole of the pin so that the wedge can be detachably attached to the pin.

A pin having an integrally formed wedge for joining blocks according to the present invention for achieving the objects comprises a wedge portion in the form of a truncated cone formed at one end of the pin; a press-fitting portion extending from the wedge portion by a certain length and having a diameter larger than a maximum diameter of the wedge portion; a wedge receiving portion which has a diameter smaller than that of the press-fitting portion and includes a plurality of rupturing grooves with a predetermined depth axially formed on an outer peripheral surface thereof from the other end of the pin and a wedge receiving hole axially formed at the other end; and a catching step portion having a diameter larger than that of the press-fitting portion and axially extending by a certain length between the press-fitting portion and the wedge receiving portion. The press-fitting portion has a plurality of first engaging grooves formed circumferentially to have a surface that is on the side toward the wedge receiving portion and gently inclined upward toward the wedge receiving portion, and a surface that is on the side toward the wedge portion and steeply inclined upward. The plurality of first engaging grooves are consecutively formed on an outer peripheral surface of the press-fitting portion. Each of the first engaging grooves comprises a first inclined surface that is formed on a side toward the wedge receiving portion and inclined upward toward the wedge receiving portion and a second inclined surface that is formed on a side toward the taper portion and inclined upward toward the wedge receiving portion and has a slope steeper than that of the first inclined surface, and a first inclined surface of one of the first engaging grooves meets with a second inclined surface of an adjacent one of the first engaging grooves to form an edge.

The wedge receiving portion has a plurality of second engaging grooves that are consecutively formed on an outer peripheral surface thereof and each of which comprises a third inclined surface that is formed on a side toward the press-fitting portion and inclined upward toward the press-fitting portion and a fourth inclined surface that is formed on a side toward a distal end of the wedge receiving portion and inclined upward toward the press-fitting portion and has a slope steeper than that of the third inclined surface, and a third inclined surface of one of the second engaging grooves meets with a fourth inclined surface of an adjacent one of the second engaging grooves to form an edge. A diameter of the wedge receiving hole is smaller than the maximum diameter of the wedge portion and larger than a minimum diameter of the wedge portion.

With the above structure, the pin and the wedge for joining the blocks are formed integrally with each other.

Brief Description of Drawings Fig. 1 is a perspective view, partially in section, showing an embodiment of a pin for joining blocks according to the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of an embodiment of a wedge for joining blocks according to the present invention.

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of a pin having an integrally formed wedge for joining blocks according to the present.

Fig. 4 is a sectional view showing a state where blocks are joined by the pin, the wedge and the pin having the integrally formed wedge for joining the blocks according to the present invention.

<Explanation of reference numerals for designating main components in the drawings> 10 Pin for joining blocks 11 Taper portion 12 Wedge coupling hole 13 Press-fitting portion 14 First engaging groove 14a, 14b Inclined surface 15 Catching step 16 Wedge receiving portion

17 Rupturing groove 18 Wedge receiving hole 19 Second engaging groove 19a, 19b Inclined surface 20 Wedge for joining blocks 22 Wedge portion 22a Cut-away groove 24 Connecting protrusion portion 30 Pin having integrally formed wedge 31 Wedge portion 33 Press-fitting portion 34 First engaging groove 35 Catching step 36 Wedge receiving portion 37 Rupturing groove 38 Wedge receiving hole 39 Second engaging groove 50a, 50b, 50c Block 51 Pin hole 52 Catching step seating portion Best Mode for Carrying out the Invention Hereinafter, embodiments of a pin 10 for joining blocks, a wedge 20 for joining blocks and a pin 30 having an integrally formed wedge for joining blocks according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to accompanying drawings.

In order to effectively describe the pin 10, the wedge 20 and the pin 30 having the integrally formed wedge for joining blocks, blocks 50a, 50b and 50c are first described with reference to Fig. 4.

Each of the blocks 50a, 50b and 50c has a predetermined height and a pin hole 51 therethrough in which the pin 10 or the like is fixed. It is preferred that the sizes of the blocks 50a, 50b and 50c and the positions of the pin holes 51 be standardized and manufactured in advance for convenience of assembly. Here, the standards may be established variously. However, since the blocks have structures such that they are consecutively joined to one another by means of the pins of the present invention, it is preferred that the height of each block be at least larger than the length of the pin for joining blocks. Although blocks made of a variety of materials can be used as the blocks, it is desirable to use blocks made of materials such as wood and rubber having low brittleness since the pin for joining the blocks is press-fitted in the pin hole. Meanwhile, a catching step seating portion 52 is formed at an entrance of the pin hole 51, such that a catching portion 15 or 35 of the pin 10 or the pin 30 having the integrally formed wedge

can be seated in the catching step seating portion 52. However, if there is no catching step portion 15 at the pin 10, the catching step seating portion 52 may be omitted.

Referring to the figure, the blocks 50a, 50b and 50c are stacked one above another such that the pin holes 51 of the blocks communicate with one another, and are then joined together by means of the pins 10 for joining the blocks. The foregoing will be described in detail later.

Fig. 1 is a perspective view, partially in portion, showing an embodiment of the pin 10 for joining blocks according to the present invention.

The pin 10 takes the shape of a cylinder as a whole, and portions of the pin are fixed to two blocks that are in contact with each other in a state where pin holes communicate with each other, so that the two blocks are joined (Fig. 4). The pin 10 comprises a taper portion 11, a press-fitting portion 13 and a wedge receiving portion 16.

The taper portion 11 is to enable the press-fitting portion 13, which has a diameter larger than that of the pin hole of the block, to be easily aligned with the pin hole. The taper portion 11 is formed at an end of the pin 10.

The press-fitting portion 13 is press-fitted and fixed in the pin hole of the block.

The press-fitting portion 13 extends with a constant diameter by a predetermined length from the taper portion 11. The diameter of the press-fitting portion 13 is larger than that of the pin hole so that the press-fitting portion 13 can be press-fitted in the pin hole.

The wedge receiving portion 16 is inserted into the pin hole and then ruptured in a longitudinal direction to be fixed in the pin hole. The wedge receiving portion 16 has the diameter smaller than that of the press-fitting portion 13 so that it can be inserted into the pin hole without resistance. That is, since the diameter of the pin hole of each of the blocks which will be joined in accordance with the present invention is constant, the diameter of the wedge receiving portion 16 is smaller than that of the pin hole. A wedge receiving hole 18 is formed at the wedge receiving portion 16 and has a predetermined depth formed in an axial direction from the other end of the pin. The wedge receiving hole 18 is a portion into which the wedge 20 for joining the blocks to be described later is inserted, and the depth of the wedge receiving hole 18 is sufficient to receive the wedge 20 for joining the blocks. Further, on an outer peripheral surface of the wedge receiving

portion 16, a plurality of rupturing grooves 17 with a constant depth are formed in an axial direction from the other end. The rupturing grooves 17 are ruptured when the wedge 20 is inserted into the wedge receiving hole 18 more than a predetermined depth to cause the wedge receiving hole 18 to widen. Accordingly, the rupturing grooves 17 are formed to have a depth sufficient to be smoothly ruptured.

Meanwhile, in the pin 10 of the present invention, the catching step portion 15 is formed to protrude between the press-fitting portion 13 and the wedge receiving portion 16.

The catching step portion 15 is a portion that is caught by the entrance of the pin hole at which the catching step seating portion 52 is formed, thereby preventing the pin 10 from being press-fitted any more when the press-fitting portion 13 is completely press-fitted into the pin hole. Accordingly, the catching step portion 15 has a diameter larger than that of the press-fitting portion 13. Further, the catching step portion 15 is a portion by which an end of a punch 60 (see Fig. 4), which will be described later, inserted into the wedge receiving portion 16 is caught. Accordingly, the catching step portion 15 extends by a certain length in an axial direction to have strength larger than a certain value that can withstand against a strike. The catching step portion 15 is fully received in the catching step seating portion 52 formed at the entrance of the pin hole.

Engaging grooves 14 and 19 are formed on the outer peripheral surfaces of the press-fitting portion 13 and the wedge receiving portion 16 of the pin 10, respectively, to prevent the press-fitting portion 13 and the wedge receiving portion 16 from being drawn from the pin hole.

First, The plurality of first engaging grooves 14 circumferentially formed are arranged consecutively on the outer peripheral surface of the press-fitting portion 13 so that the outer peripheral surface is in the form of sawteeth in axial section. In particular, each of the first engaging grooves 14 is circumferentially formed to have a first inclined surface 14a, on the side of the wedge receiving portion 16, with a gentle upward slope toward the wedge receiving portion 16, and a second inclined surface 14b, on the side toward the taper portion 11, with a rapid upward slop toward the wedge receiving portion 16. Namely, the diameter of the first inclined surface 14a increases gently toward the wedge receiving portion 16, and the diameter of the second inclined surface 14b increases

steeply toward the wedge receiving portion 16. That is, the second inclined surface 14b has a slope steeper than that of the first inclined surface 14a. As for the plurality of first engaging grooves 14, a first inclined surface of one of the first engaging grooves meets with a second inclined surface of an adjacent one of the first engaging grooves to form an edge. Therefore, the outer peripheral surface of the press-fitting portion 13 has an axial section in the form of sawteeth. In general, the first engaging grooves 14 constituting the sawteeth structure as described above increase friction between the press-fitting portion 13 and the pin hole. However, the first engaging grooves 14 having the two inclined surfaces 14a and 14b provide additional friction force according to a movement direction of the press-fitting portion 13 in the pin hole. That is, since the first inclined surface 14a that is on the side of the wedge receiving portion 16 and inclined upward toward the wedge receiving portion 16 has a gentle slope and the second inclined surface 14b that is on the side of the taper portion 11 and inclined rapidly downward is nearly perpendicular to the axial direction, the first and second inclined surfaces 14a and 14b meet with each other to define an edge in the form of a blade facing the wedge receiving portion 16. Therefore, the press-fitting portion 13 is relatively easily press-fitted into the pin hole but is not easily drawn from the pin hole.

Further, the plurality of second engaging grooves 19 formed circumferentially are arranged consecutively on the outer peripheral surface of the wedge receiving portion 16 so that the outer circumference surface is in the form of sawteeth in axial section. In particular, each of the second engaging grooves 19 is circumferentially formed to have a third inclined surface 19a, on the side toward the press-fitting portion 13, with a gentle upward slope toward the press-fitting portion 13, and a fourth inclined surface 19b, on the side toward a distal end of the wedge receiving portion 16, with a rapid upward slop toward the press-fitting portion 13. That is, the fourth inclined surface 19b has a slope steeper than that of the first inclined surface 19a. As for the plurality of second engaging grooves 19, a third inclined surface of one of the second engaging grooves meets with a fourth inclined surface of an adjacent one of the second engaging grooves to form a edge.

Therefore, the wedge receiving 16 is in the form of sawteeth in axial section. Generally, the second engaging grooves 19 increase friction between the wedge receiving portion 16

and the pin hole so that the wedge receiving portion 16 cannot not be easily drawn from the pin hole in a state where the wedge receiving portion 16 has been ruptured and fixed in the pin hole. Meanwhile, the second engaging grooves 19 each of which the two inclined surfaces 19a and 19b provide different friction force according to the movement direction of the wedge receiving portion 16 in the pin hole. That is, since the third inclined surface 19a that is on the side toward the press-fitting portion 13 and inclined upward toward the press-fitting portion 13 has a gentle slope and the fourth inclined surface 19b on the side toward the distal end of the wedge receiving portion 16 has a steep slope, the third and fourth inclined surfaces 19a and 19b meet with each other to define an edge in the form of a blade facing the press-fitting portion 13. Therefore, since greater friction force is generated between the wedge receiving portion 16 and the pin hole in a direction in which the wedge receiving portion 16 is drawn from the pin hole, the wedge receiving portion 16 is not easily drawn from the pin hole.

Meanwhile, the pin 10 of the present invention is characterized in that a wedge coupling hole 12 with a predetermined depth is formed at an end of the taper portion 11 in the axial direction. The wedge coupling hole 12 is a portion into which a coupling protrusion portion 24 of the wedge 20 to be described later is inserted. Therefore, the wedge 20 can be detachably coupled to the pin 10. Advantages obtained from this structure will be described later. Meanwhile, although the figure shows an embodiment in which the wedge coupling hole 12 communicates with the wedge receiving hole 18, the present invention is not limited thereto.

Fig. 2 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of the wedge 20 for joining blocks according to the present invention.

The wedge 20 comprises a wedge portion 22 that will be inserted into the wedge receiving hole 18 to rupture the wedge receiving portion 16 of the pin 10. The wedge portion 22 is formed to take the shape of a truncated cone having the maximum diameter larger than the diameter of the wedge receiving hole 18 of the pin 10 and the minimum diameter smaller than the diameter of the wedge receiving hole. Due to such structure, when the wedge portion 22 is inserted into and further moved through the wedge receiving hole 18 of the pin 10, the wedge receiving portion 16 is ruptured along the rupturing

grooves 17 since force is applied in a radial direction to the wedge receiving hole 18.

Further, the wedge 20 of the present is characterized in that a plurality of cut-away grooves 22 are longitudinally formed on an outer peripheral surface of the wedge portion 22. Due to such structure, it is possible to save the amount of materials corresponding to the volume of the cut-away grooves 22a upon manufacture of the wedge 20.

Meanwhile, the wedge 20 of the present is characterized in that the coupling protrusion portion 24 axially extends from an end of the wedge portion 22 having the maximum diameter so that the coupling protrusion portion 24 can be inserted into the wedge receiving hole 12 of the pin 10. By inserting the coupling protrusion portion 24 into the wedge receiving hole 12 of the pin 10, the wedge 20 having such a structure can be detachably attached to the pin 10. When the wedge 20 is connected to an end of the taper portion 11 of the pin 10, the overall structure thereof has the same configuration as the pin 30 having an integrally formed wedge shown in Fig. 3. By connecting the wedge 20 to the pin 10 as described above, the process of inserting the wedge 20 into the wedge receiving hole 18 of the wedge receiving portion 16 located within the pin hole of the block and the process of press-fitting the press-fitting portion 13 of the pin 10 into the pin hole of the block can be performed simultaneously (see Fig. 4).

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the pin 30 having the integrally formed wedge for joining blocks according to the present invention.

The pin 30 of the present invention has a configuration in which the pin 10 and the wedge 20 are connected integrally with each other as described above.

Referring to the figure, the pin 30 having the integrally formed wedge comprises a wedge portion 31 in the form of a truncated cone formed at one end of the pin; a press- fitting portion 33 extending from the wedge portion 31 by a certain length and having a diameter larger than the maximum diameter of the wedge portion 31; a wedge receiving portion 36 which has a diameter smaller than that of the press-fitting portion 33 and includes a plurality of rupturing grooves 37 with a predetermined depth axially formed on an outer peripheral surface thereof from the other end of the pin and a wedge receiving hole 38 axially formed at the other end; and a catching step portion 35 having a diameter larger than that of the press-fitting portion 33 and axially extending by a certain length

between the press-fitting portion 33 and the wedge receiving portion 36.

Meanwhile, the press-fitting portion 33 has a plurality of first engaging grooves 34 which are consecutively formed on an outer peripheral surface thereof and each of which comprises a first inclined surface 34a that is formed on the side toward the wedge receiving portion 36 and inclined upward toward the wedge receiving portion 36 and a second inclined surface 34b that is formed on the side toward the wedge portion 31 and inclined upward toward the wedge receiving portion 36 and has a slope steeper than that of the first inclined surface 34a. A first inclined surface of one of the first engaging grooves 34 meets with a second inclined surface of an adjacent one of the first engaging grooves to form an edge.

Further, the wedge receiving portion 36 has a plurality of second engaging grooves 39 that are consecutively formed on an outer peripheral surface thereof and each of which comprises a third inclined surface 39a that is formed on the side toward the press-fitting portion 33 and inclined upward toward the press-fitting portion 33 and a fourth inclined surface 39b that is formed on the side toward a distal end of the wedge receiving portion 36 and inclined upward toward the press-fitting portion 33 and has a slope steeper than that of the third inclined surface 39a. A third inclined surface of one of the second engaging grooves 39 meets with a fourth inclined surface of an adjacent one of the second engaging grooves to form an edge.

Moreover, the diameter of the wedge receiving portion 38 is smaller than the maximum diameter of the wedge portion 31 and larger than the minimum diameter of the wedge portion.

Meanwhile, since the pin 10, the wedge 20 and the pin 30 having the integrally formed wedge shown in Figs. 1 to 3 are to join blocks used for constructing a flowerbed containing much moisture or for assembling a landscape structure to be installed outdoors, it is desirable to manufacture the pin 10, the wedge 20 and the pin 30 with materials such as plastics having an anti-corrosive property. Furthermore, although the pin 10, the wedge 20 and the pin 30 have complicated shapes, these members can be easily manufactured through an injection molding process.

Hereinafter, an operation for joining blocks by means of the pin, the wedge and the

pin having the integrally formed wedge constructed as above will be described with reference to Fig. 4.

This figure shows a state where the blocks 50a, 50b and 50c are stacked in three layers and the respective blocks are joined to adjacent blocks by means of the pin, the wedge and the pin having the integrally formed wedge. First, a press-fitting portion of a pin 61 for joining blocks is press-fitted and fixed in a pin hole of the lower block 50a, and a wedge receiving portion of the pin 61 is inserted into the upper block 50b. A wedge portion of a wedge for joining blocks is received in the wedge receiving portion of the pin 61, so that the wedge receiving portion can be ruptured and the pin 61 can be then fixed to the pin hole of the block 50b. Reference numeral 63 designates a pin with a lower portion having a wedge portion to be received in the wedge receiving portion of the pin 61. The pin 63 may be obtained by coupling the wedge to a lower end of the pin for joining the blocks or may be a pin itself that has an integrally formed wedge. As described above, since the wedge and the pin for joining the blocks are formed integrally with each other, the process of inserting the wedge portion of the pin designated by reference numeral 63 into the wedge receiving portion of the pin 61 and the process of press-fitting the press- fitting portion of the pin designated by reference numeral 63 into the block 50b can be performed simultaneously. Meanwhile, this figure shows schematically a state where the wedge portion designated by reference numeral 64 is received in the wedge receiving portion designated by reference numeral 62 so that the wedge receiving portion 62 is ruptured and then fixed in the pin hole of the block 50b. In particular, the figure shows a state where in order to apply a strike to the wedge portion designated by reference numeral 64 for press-fitting the press-fitting portion of the pin designated by reference numeral 62 into the pin hole of the block 50b and for inserting the wedge portion into the wedge receiving portion of the pin designated by reference numeral 62, a cylindrical punch 66 is inserted around the wedge receiving portion such that a lower end of the punch is caught by a catching step portion and an upper end of the punch extends over the wedge receiving portion. Accordingly, without striking the wedge receiving portion of the pin designated by reference numeral 64 which is weak on the strike due to the rupturing grooves, the upper end of the punch 66 extending over the wedge receiving portion is struck by a

hammer, etc. Therefore, the press-fitting portion of the pin designated by reference numeral 64 is press-fitted into the block, and at the same time, the wedge portion can be inserted into the wedge receiving portion of the pin designated by reference numeral 62.

Industrial Applicability With a pin, a wedge and a pin having an integrally formed wedge for joining blocks according to the present invention constructed as above, there is an advantage in that a press-fitting portion is simply press-fitted into a pin hole of one of adjacent two blocks having pin holes and a wedge receiving portion inserted into the pin hole of the other block is ruptured by a wedge and then simply fixed in the pin hole, thereby easily joining the two blocks.

The pin for joining the blocks and the pin having the integrally formed wedge for joining the blocks according to the present invention have an advantage in that a catching step is formed between a press-fitting portion and a wedge receiving portion, which will be ruptured and fixed, to be caught by an entrance of a pin hole such that the press-fitting portion is no longer inserted into the pin hole when the press-fitting portion is press-fitted by a certain length, and receives force since an end of a punch for striking the press-fitting portion during the press-fitting process is caught by the catching step, thereby simplifying the press-fitting process and preventing damage due to a strike applied to press-fit the press-fitting portion.

Further, the pin for joining the blocks and the pin having the integrally formed wedge for joining the blocks has an advantage in that first engaging grooves are consecutively arranged on an outer peripheral surface of a press-fitting portion of the pin to relatively decrease friction in a direction in which the pin is press-fitted into a pin hole of a block and to relatively increase friction in a direction in which the pin is drawn from the pin hole of the block, thereby allowing the pin to be easily press-fitted into the pin hole but preventing the pin from being extracted from the pin hole.

Moreover, the pin for joining the blocks and the pin having the integrally formed wedge for joining the blocks has an advantage in that second engaging grooves are consecutively arranged on an outer peripheral surface of a wedge receiving portion of the

pin, thereby preventing the pin from being easily drawn from the pin hole when the wedge receiving portion is ruptured and fixed in the pin hole.

Furthermore, the pin, the wedge and the pin having the integrally formed wedge for joining the blocks have an advantage in that the wedge for joining the blocks is connected integrally so as to simultaneously perform the process of press-fitting a press- fitting portion of the pin into a pin hole and the process of inserting the connected wedge into a wedge receiving portion of another pin for joining blocks.

It is intended that the embodiments of the present invention described above and illustrated in the drawings should not be construed as limiting the technical spirit of the present invention. The scope of the present invention is defined only by the appended claims. Those skilled in the art can make various changes and modifications thereto without departing from its true spirit. Therefore, various changes and modifications obvious to those skilled in the art will fall within the scope of the present invention.